Boosting the
health and well being of your employees can make a big improvement to
their morale and motivation and can significantly enhance their job
performance. This has a direct impact on the quality of service they
provide to your customers. Improving your employees' health at work
will also play a big part in reducing absence and improving staff
retention rates which are a huge drain on finances and a thorn in the
side of operational matters.
Ann-Marie Stagg, Chair
of CCMA, firmly advocates the importance of employee health. "Positive
management of the health and welfare of people at work contributes
directly to increased job performance and improves morale - this in
turn leads to reduced levels of absenteeism and staff turnover."
A
phenomenon that has hit the workplace in the last few years is STRESS.
When your employees are stressed-out your business suffers. The Health
& Safety Executive state 'The costs of stress to your organisation may
show up as high staff turnover, an increase in sickness absence,
reduced work performance, poor timekeeping and more customer
complaints.'
The most
obvious warning signs of stress in an employee are behavioural such as
irritability, crying, poor relations with colleagues, low performance,
mood swings, skipping meals and excessive drinking and smoking. Other
less obvious symptoms are back pain, eyestrain, headaches, repetitive
strain injury, heart palpitations and feelings of anxiety. In serious
cases work-related stress can cause high blood pressure, depression,
insomnia and even violence.
A
contact centre worker will suffer from similar symptoms of stress as
that of any worker. However the contact centre industry owns a unique
combination of factors that cause stress, such as:
-
Handling aggressive and difficult customers
-
Noisy
working environment
-
Being
seated for long periods of time
-
Continuous use of keyboard, screen and headset
-
Rigid
call targets
-
No
control over number of calls received
-
Working unsociable hours
-
Inadequate breaks
-
Repetitive and monotonous calls
-
Lack
of variety in job role
-
No
remit to resolve customer problems
Contact
Centre Managers need to have a stress management strategy in place to
relieve the effects of these stressors if they want their staff to
stay healthy, stress-free and avoid burnout.
One
method of reducing the effects of contact centre stressors is to offer
your staff regular scheduled on-site massage. As it sounds, on-site
massage takes place at work. It lasts for 15 minutes and is both
relaxing and energising. To receive the massage you sit on a
comfortable and supportive massage chair, keep your work clothes on
and no oil is used - ideal for the office.
Findings
from the Touch Research Institute, University of Miami School of
Medicine, found that on-site massage increases relaxation, enhances
alertness, lowers anxiety, improves task accuracy, lowers the level of
stress hormone cortisol, reduces depression and lowers job-related
stress.
Regular
on-site massage has many benefits for both the contact centre agent
and the contact centre business:
Benefits for the contact centre agent
Increases mental clarity by significantly improving the circulation of
oxygen to the brain Increases mental clarity by speeding up the
removal of the body's waste products which can lead to painful &
distracting tension headaches and shoulder/neck stiffness Enhanced
mental clarity will improve job performance Helps to relieve back pain
and other upper body injuries, caused by poor posture, combined use of
screen and phone and sitting for long periods, by relaxing tense and
aching muscles Reduces stress-related high blood pressure, anxiety and
its associated chest tightness and heart palpitations Dealing with
these problems can reduce the likelihood of sickness absence Provides
a welcome and healthy break away from the stress of an angry customer,
the strain of talking continuously or the pressure of meeting call
targets You feel relaxed, calm and re-energised - a wonderful and rare
feeling in the busy world of work! Benefits for contact centre
business
The
physical and psychological benefits (described above) can
significantly improve job performance which creates a positive impact
on your bottom line
Arranging for staff to receive massage at work demonstrates an
employer's commitment to their employees' health giving a big boost to
their morale and a huge motivator to provide a quality service to your
customers. This may also help to improve staff retention and reduce
absenteeism.
Research
from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (USA)
states that a healthy and highly productive company is one that has
'an organisational culture that values the individual worker and
management actions that are consistent with organisational values'
Regular massage makes you feel refreshed and alert, driving your
agents to provide a first-class customer service The Health & Safety
Executive state's it is an employers legal duty to ensure employees
are not made ill by their work - implementing a massage service will
help relieve the symptoms of stress caused by call centre working
Regular use of a massage service can help reduce stress-related
symptoms - this may help reduce stress-related sickness absence and
improve staff retention rates Workplace massage is convenient,
flexible, low-cost and won't disrupt your business activities
This
article first appeared on CCMA's website
Additional Information
www.ccma.org.uk -
info@ccma.org.uk
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